This events calendar includes Earl’s upcoming performances, compositional debuts, recordings and educational activities. On mobile devices this calendar is best viewed horizontally.
2025
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Thu09Jan2025
Joel Rosenblatt Trio
6 - 8 PMPrivate, Corporate Event. Westerly, RI
with Joel Rosenblatt – drums, Dave Edwards – bass
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Tue28Jan2025Wed29Jan2025
Myra Jazz Festival
Red River High School Performance Hall,
Grand Forks, North Dakota
The Myra Jazz Festival has been running continuously for over 30 years. It is a two-day festival for middle school and high school jazz bands in the upper Red River Valley. In addition to adjudicating and presenting clinic sessions, Earl will perform as a featured guest artist with the Myra Big Band. The festival is free and open to the public on both days. -
Sun02Feb2025
Chris Beaudry Quintet
3:00 PMHartford Public Library, 500 Main St, Hartford, CT 06103
Chris Beaudry – tenor sax,
Haneef Nelson – trumpet,
Earl MacDonald – piano,
Tyler Sherman – string bass,
Jesse Hameen II – drum set -
Fri07Feb2025
UConn High School Jazz Festival
8 AM - 7:30 PMvon der Mehden Recital Hall, 875 Coventry Rd, Storrs, CT
[directions and parking]
The annual UConn Jazz Festival is a non-competitive and educationally-rewarding experience that provides a forum for mutual support of each ensemble’s efforts while enhancing skills in the jazz idiom. Highlights of the festival include:
- a twenty-minute performance time for each ensemble,
- a twenty-minute personalized clinic by a UConn Jazz faculty member,
- beginning, intermediate, and advanced level improvisation master classes, and
- a mini-concert by the UConn Jazz Ensemble and UConn Jazz faculty.
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Sun09Mar2025
Scott Sasanecki Quartet
12 noon - 3pm
Scott Sasanecki – guitar, Earl MacDonald – keyboard, Fumi Tomita – string bass, Ben Bilello – drumsDewey’s Jazz Lounge, 232 Worthington St, Springfield, MA 01103
(413) 301-8337 -
Sat15Mar2025
2025 Clark Terry UNH Jazz Festival - Adjudicator
7:30 AM - 5:30 PMUniversity of New Hampshire, College of Liberal Arts, Department of Music, Paul Creative Arts Center, 30 Academic Way Durham, NH 03824-2617
Earl will serve as an adjudicator at the 2025 Clark Terry UNH Jazz Festival on Saturday, March 15th, 2025. He will provide written and verbal comments and post performance clinics for participating ensembles. -
Thu27Mar2025
UConn Jazz Faculty at Black Eyed Sally's
8 - 10 PM
Black-Eyed Sally's. 350 Asylum St., Hartford, CT, 860-278-7427.
Join the UConn Faculty Jazz Group for an evening of swinging jazz, presented with support from the Greater Hartford Arts Council, the Hartford Jazz Society, and series curator Haneef Nelson.
Featuring: Luke Wingfield (trumpet), Evan Gray (trombone), Michael Farina (saxophones, subbing for John Mastroianni), Scott Sasanecki (guitar), Earl MacDonald (piano), Steve Bulmer (bass), Sarah DiMiceli (drums, subbing for Jonathan Barber), and vocalists Leala Cyr and Rod Nelman.
Don’t miss this special night of live jazz!
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Fri28Mar2025Sat29Mar2025
Guest Artist: Holyoke Community College Jazz Festival
Holyoke Community College
Leslie Phillips Theater at HCC’s Fine & Performing Arts Building
303 Homestead Ave, Holyoke, MassachusettsEarl MacDonald with the Amherst Jazz Orchestra
Friday, March 28 | 8:00 PM
Pianist, composer, and arranger Earl MacDonald joins the Amherst Jazz Orchestra as the featured guest artist for an evening of big band jazz. Directed by trombonist and music professor Dave Sporny, the AJO takes the stage at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 28th, in the Leslie Phillips Theater at HCC’s Fine & Performing Arts Building. The concert is free for HCC students, faculty, and staff, and $10 for the general public.Jazz Clinics with Earl MacDonald
Saturday, March 29 | 9:00 AM
Jazz clinics for high school and college music students, led by Earl MacDonald. Topics include improvisation, ensemble playing, and jazz interpretation. -
Sun30Mar2025
Steven Bulmer Trio - Jazz Brunch
11 AM - 2:30 PM
Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, 600 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103
Tickets include museum admission, brunch, and one complimentary bloody mary or mimosa.
There are two seatings, one at 10:30am & one at 12:30pm.
$39; $29 members. Tickets must be purchased online, in advance.Steven Bulmer - string bass, Scott Sasanecki - guitar, Earl MacDonald - piano
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Sun13Apr2025
UConn Jazz Lab Band
3:00 - 4:30 PMvon der Mehden Recital Hall, Storrs, CT
General admission is $10.
Students, faculty, children and military members with ID are admitted free.Earl MacDonald, director
